Sharing a Life
by Gaepora13
Summary: When a group of men, women, and aliens band together to defend the galaxy, their lives become intertwined through friendship, romance, and war against a rogue who plans to destroy the galaxy using an ancient race of evil, sentient machines. *CURRENTLY ON HIATUS*
1. Prologue

Hey everybody. It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm not very good on my word, so I won't promise that this is going to be a successful story that I continue until I reach a good stopping place, but I can always say I'll try my best. I just can't wait until the spring break, because I'll definitely be able to write a lot.

Anyway, this is pretty much going to be "Mass Effect" my previous, unoriginal story but with a few twists and turns that might or might not veer from the game. Anyway, glad to be back.

"Well…what about Shepard? Earth born, but…no record of his family."

"Doesn't have one. He was raised on the streets, learned to look out for himself."

"He saw his whole unit die on Akuze. He could have some serious emotional scars."

"Ever soldier has scars. Shepard's a survivor."

"Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?"

"That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy."

"I'll make the call."

**In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.**

**They called it the greatest discovery in human history.**

**The civilizations of the galaxy called it…**

**Mass Effect**

Three Days Later

Ambassador Udina was an impatient man. Prone to yelling, being the only ambassador not afraid to get on the Council's bad side (especially that goddamned turian councilor), and the ultimate decisions behind every one of humanity's decisions. He loved power.

But today was going to be awkward. He had so much to do today. First, he needed to tell the Council that he was nominating Commander Shepard for the Spectres, an elite group of soldiers who were above the law and only answered to the Council. Then, he needed to give Captain Anderson the prototype ship, the SSV Normandy. It was made by the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy as a dual project, with both species' designs implemented.

Then he needed to assemble a crew for Anderson. Why that task had fallen to him and not Admiral Hackett, or even Anderson himself, he wasn't sure. The message from Arcturus Station had said that Udina had the best judgment. Well, Udina had been flattered, but he highly doubted that was true. He wasn't the most level-headed man.

As he leaned over his terminal, the door on the other side of his office opened. In walked a human and a turian, side by side but both seeming as if they weren't. Once they were past the door, the turian walked over to the small holographic projectors that Udina used to communicate with the Council. The human sat on the opposite side of Udina's desk. "Hello, Ambassador."

"Hello, Captain Anderson," said Udina, powering off his terminal and standing, shaking his hand. His attention shifted over to the turian by the holographic projectors. "You must be Nihlus Kryik, who will be assessing Commander Shepard." He extended his hand again when he reached the Spectre.

"Hm. Ambassador Udina…I've heard lots about you, and not all good," replied Nihlus without accepting Udina's polite gesture. "But yes," he continued with a sly grin and a twitch of his mandibles at Udina's angered expression, "I will be accompanying Commander Shepard on the next few missions of his."

"Let's just speak with the Council," Anderson said before things got out of hand. Udina activated the holographs and contacted the Council through a small keypad. Soon enough, the three Council members appeared in front of them: An asari in the middle, a salarian on her left, and a turian on her right.

"Ambassador," said the turian, "have you made your decision yet?"

"Yes, with close consideration, as well," Udina replied. "I nominate Commander John Shepard to be the first human Spectre."

**-\/-**

The shuttle carried Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko away from Earth, just exiting the atmosphere. Though Kaidan had developed another one of his headaches, so it had felt like an hour-long trip already. When he checked the real time, it was only two minutes after the shuttle had departed.

Corporal Richard Jenkins laughed all the way down the aisle of seats as a flight attendant urged him towards his seat. He regained himself when he plopped down next to Kaidan. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm just so excited I'm getting transferred!"

Richard had been Kaidan's best friend since he'd joined the navy. They'd been at the same training camp, lived in the same quarters, were recruited into the same station, and usually assigned to the same missions together. Their personalities were so different, though. Jenkins was hot-headed and was incapable of patience, even when he was asleep. He usually couldn't shut up and always wanted to fight, while Kaidan himself was calm and collected, usually staying quiet unless asked a question and readily accepting the calm of shore leave or sleeping.

"I was talking with this guy over there, Adams," said Richard, still chuckling. "He's getting transferred to the Normandy as well! He's a great guy, really funny, and he seems to know what he's doing. Wow, I can't wait, can you, Kaidan? This'll be great! Hey, did you get the mission briefing? We aren't even there yet and we've got a mission!"

Kaidan nodded. "That's great, Richy," he said with a weak smile. He leaned his head against the window, feeling the low, soft rumble as the shuttle entered deep space. Soon, they'd be at the Arcturus Station. He just wished he could catch some sleep.

"Another flare-up?" Jenkins asked with sudden concern. That was one topic he always truly stopped to care about. "Hey, you want, I give you some aspirin, I probably brought some with me."

"No, I'm fine," Kaidan replied. "I'll just try to get some sleep, that usually helps."

"Well, just tell me if you need anything," Richard replied. "Getting some sleep sounds good right about now." He stood up and walked back down the aisle as Kaidan slowly chuckled and shut his eyes, listening to the sound of crew men and soldiers talking on the way to Arcturus.

**-\/-**

Joker limped down the runway, leaning on his two canes. A salarian dock worker had agreed to carry his bags to the Normandy, the ship Joker was set to pilot. Eventually, the two came upon the giant shuttle. Joker stopped abruptly with a gasp. "Hot damn," he muttered as he turned and set his canes in one of his bags. "Thanks a lot, I've got it from here." The salarian bowed and walked away as Joker carried his luggage onto the ship.

He arrived at the loading bay and knocked on the closed door. His legs began to ache without his canes and he groaned when the doors didn't open, stroking his knees. "Come on," he said, knocking again and adjusting his ball cap with the insignia "SR-1" on it, the model type of the SSV Normandy.

The door opened suddenly which gave Joker a scare. He immediately worried he had broken one of his legs, but he was still standing, so he assumed he hadn't. A man stood there with a smile written across his face. He was bald and wore an Alliance issue casual wear. His beard was going gray, which faint tints of brown peppered across it. "Ah, Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, I believe? Pleasure to meet you. I'm Navigator Pressly, acting XO of the SSV Normandy."

"Yeah, call me Joker," replied the pilot as he walked past the navigator. He hated being called by his real name, and rarely ever responded to it. As he stepped on the ship's body, he saw a bridge to his right with many people working in lowered seats. To his left, he saw his work station: The cockpit.

"Hey, Chief, wanna take my bags to my room? I wanna get acquainted with this beauty," Joker said, handing him all his bags. He sat down in the pilot's seat and sighed with relief. Pressly stood there astonished but eventually carried his bags away, opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something but wouldn't. "Dammit," Joker said once the XO was gone, "the seats aren't even leather."

**-\/-**

Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams walked towards the dig site where the scientists were unearthing what was thought to be a Prothan Beacon, the race of aliens that left behind technology that jumped humanity's two hundred years ahead. She took her helmet off as she reached Jacob Taylor and Nirali Bhatia talking heatedly.

"I just get a bad feeling from all this," Jacob said, looking around warily. "I mean, come on, you've been thinking it too, Chief's been thinking it!"

"Thinking what?" Ashley asked as she put her weight on one leg and crossed her arms.

"Jacob thinks that we're in for a fight," Nirali replied, rolling her eyes with a smirk. "I don't understand what's so suspicious about this mission. We're on Eden Prime, a tourist vacation area, not some high military base."

"Bhatia's right, Taylor," Ashley said patting the operative on the shoulder. "Let's protect these eggheads-er, scientists, and then we can get off this planet."

"Protect them?" Jacob replied as Ashley began to walk away. "See, I knew it, there's something big going down here soon, I just know it."

**-\/-**

John Shepard stared at the beautiful shuttle called the Normandy. He was no shuttle expert, but he could tell that his was a beauty among ships. No, more than a beauty, a god. Yes, a god would be more accurate.

The door to the shuttle opened and out came a bald man with an Alliance issue casual wear walked out. He had a beard that was graying with brown specks peppered in. "Hello, Commander Shepard, such a pleasure to meet you. I'm Navigator Pressly, acting XO of the ship, but now that you're here, I guess that duty passes to you. Let me just say, it's such an honor to meet you."

"Hi, Pressly, nice to meet you, too," John said. He let the navigator show him inside. As John walked in, he looked to his left, where the cockpit was. Only a single man was in, there but John couldn't see enough, just his hands flying across the dashboard. On his left were many men and women in lowered chairs working away at terminals. He could also see a large, holographic galaxy map with a few crew members gathered around it, talking or working at computers. He also saw two doors on opposite sides of the galaxy map.

"Right this way, your room is downstairs," said Pressly as they began to walk down the stairs.

"I get a whole room? I thought that right was reserved to the CO," replied John with surprise. Suddenly, a woman with dark gray hair bumped into him. Her papers scattered across the floor, sliding down the steps. "I'm sorry, ma'am, please forgive me."

"No worries, Commander," said the woman with a hint of an English accent. "It was my fault. Doctor Chakwas, by the way, residing medic." She extended her free hand once all her papers were collected.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Chakwas," John replied. "I guess you already know me. I'm sure it will be a pleasure to work alongside you."

"If we could continue?" Pressly said impatiently. "Good day, Doctor." He continued down the stairs and John followed, feeling a small annoyance towards Pressly.


	2. Chapter 1: Counteract

The turian didn't bode well with anyone on the crew except John.

John himself was multi-racial, even outside of the galaxy. He didn't understand why you would go into space if you were afraid of aliens, or hated them. They were the main fantastic reality to John, in a way that sounded offensive but wasn't when he truly thought about it.

He stood in the cockpit with Joker, Kaidan Alenko, and Nihlus Kryik, a turian Spectre who was sent with them on their first mission. No one knew why except Captain Anderson, who, mysteriously, had been the last person to arrive, even after Nihlus arrived on board. They were then ordered to ship-off immediately.

It was two days after that, and John was settling in. He'd become quick friends with Anderson, Joker, Kaidan, and even Dr. Chakwas. When he had first met Kaidan, they'd both been appalled when they realized they'd met each other before.

"Shepard? John Shepard?" Kaidan said with disbelief. "How have you been, it's been years!" They embraced each other in a brotherly hug.

"Alenko, huh? Corporal Alenko, right?" John had said.

"Lieutenant now," he'd replied. He'd introduced him to his best friend, Corporal Richard Jenkins and then had unpacked. They'd shared a couple of cold ones until now.

"That's good. Your captain will be pleased," Nihlus said as he departed from the cockpit.

When he was out of earshot, Joker muttered, "I hate that guy."

"Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him?" Kaidan said from the copilot seat.

"I just get a bad feeling from him is all," Joker said. "Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid," Kaidan replied, punching in some commands at his terminal. "This is a simple shake down run. Nihlus just wanted to accompany us."

"There's nothing wrong with Nihlus," interjected John as he leaned on the pilot's seat. "He may be suspicious, but he's got his reasons."

"Joker, do you read me?" Captain Anderson said over the intercom. Joker hit a small green key.

"Yes, Captain. I read you," Joker replied.

"Send Commander Shepard to the comms room. I need to talk with him in private."

"Sure thing, Captain, but be careful; saw Nihlus heading your way."

"No worries, Joker. He's already here." The comms link cut out and Joker hung his head in shame.

"Nice work," Kaidan joked with a sly smile.

"He sounded angry. Something's happened," John said as he walked back down the bridge.

**-\/-**

The geth attacked before unit 212 could gather themselves.

Ashley jumped as the first synthetic landed in its folded shape, but slowly came apart as it went into fighting mode. It rose its gun and killed Richardson before he had a chance to defend himself. Next, more geth landed, killing civilians and all, working their way downhill towards the dig site. Ashley's unit held out for a while, but were at a disadvantage. They fired uphill as the geth stormed down, trying to make their way forward. Some of the geth, however, oddly grabbed any corpses and carried them back the way they'd came.

As a maroon geth fired his rocket launcher, shoving rubble into Jacob's face and encasing him, Ashley yelled at Nirali, "Get a video feed up and running, send it off to any incoming Alliance vessel!" She fired above the cover she had, hearing one of the synthetics automatically destroy their memory core. She ran across to the rubble where Jacob was buried and unearthed some of the dirt and rock. "Taylor! Taylor! Jacob, you better fucking respond!"

She uncovered Jacob's face, which was limp. His mouth hung open limply and his eyes were close, with multiple cuts across his face. She checked his neck for a pulse and found none. "Dammit, Taylor." She quickly fired at the geth again, downing two or three. Nirali was filming Wilson as he urgently sent out the distress beacon. "We need reinforcements, any help is…" His mouth hung open as Ashley arrived and a gunshot whizzed over Bhatia's head.

"Get down!" screamed Ashley, tackling Nirali into the ground to keep her safe. They heard a sniper shot go off as Wilson was down, his brains leaking through the creases in his helmet. "What is that?" Ashley muttered as she ceased gunfire for a split second.

Nirali turned to where Ashley's gaze was averted and she gasped as well. A large ship, larger but similar in design to the geth's drop-ships, rose away, its talons spreading out as large, violent, streaks of red light creased the air. "Oh, my God," Nirali said before she was struck with another sniper round to the forehead. The camera was destroyed in the process, but Ashley couldn't care less.

"Bhatia! FUCKING DAMMIT! Nirali, respond, dammit," Ashley yelled, punching her old friend and comrade in battle on the chest, tears streaming down her face. There was no saving her, Ashley knew that, but she had already lost so many. First Richardson, then Taylor, Wilson and Bhatia, and just then, she saw her last remaining soldier, O'Brien, taken by geth as they stuck a pistol in his mouth and fired. He went limp in their synthetic arms as they carried him and many of the other off up the hill.

Ashley quickly shot at the geth taking away the bodies of her comrades. One or two went down with succession, but the rest then focused their fire on her. She pulled out her shotgun and began to pump rounds into their flash-light heads. She put a few rocks on Taylor's face as the geth slowly retreated, making sure they wouldn't find him. Then, she began to drag Nirali's body off to the dig site, shoving her inside a small cove of rocks that would easily conceal her.

Then she fought.

**-\/-**

Kaidan was unaware of what would await him when he hit ground. Anderson hadn't said anything about it other than to "secure the Beacon," whatever that meant. It would be nice to work with Shepard again (though when he questioned Shepard, he'd gotten even less information), and he was glad it was Jenkins backing him up. Well, really, he was glad that he was the one backing up Jenkins. Whenever Kaidan and Richard were split up between missions, Jenkins would return with heavy wounds that the residing medic was forced to fix.

But that didn't matter now. He could tell from the urgency from Anderson, Shepard, and Nihlus that something serious was going down. Apparently, it was so serious that Nihlus had decided it was important he went as well. Nihlus grabbed a pistol from the requisitions officer and then waited by the loading bay while the humans got suited up. The elevator that took you from the second level to the hub level opened up and out walked Anderson.

"Alright, team, listen up," Anderson said as they gathered around the right wall. The docking bay door opened up as Nihlus sauntered over checking his pistol. "We've got a major problem down there. Our mission isn't going to be as simple as we all thought. As you can probably guess now, this isn't a shakedown run. This is now a rescue mission. We need to secure that beacon…it's the main priority. Survivors come second."

"Wait, what?" Kaidan exclaimed. He glanced to his teammates. Jenkins was just as astonished as Kaidan was, but John hung his head slightly, checking his assault rifle. "Captain, what are you saying?"

"He's saying that survivors are not the priority; you and the Prothean Beacon are," Nihlus replied.

"Nihlus will be scouting ahead, so make sure that you are in radio contact with him at all times."

Nihlus then holstered his pistol and leapt off of the docking bay. Richard's mouth fell open and looked over the edge, stumbling. Kaidan caught him, just shaking his head. "Sir, I'm not sure I agree with our objective."

"I'm not sure I do, either," replied Anderson. "Get moving."


	3. Chapter 2: Eden Prime

Just going over my past updates, I've noticed the chapters were fairly short. Just tell me if you guys want longer chapters or if you want to leave that up to me. I'm game for either. Trust me, I've got plenty of ideas.

"Humans. What pitiful creatures." Saren lazily kicked the head of a crisp corpse. The initial bombing had obliterated one of the major powerhouses behind Eden Prime. Without it, much of the eastern colonies would be defenseless. Victory.

The geth around him all watched him as he walked by, examining the carnage. Sometimes a puny metallic whir would emit from their vocal speakers as they followed him almost like zombies. If it were up to him, he'd find a different way to meet his goal, other then working with these creepy synthetics.

"Shiala," Saren said, turning to the asari he'd taken with him. "Report back to Benezia. Tell her the beacon is almost in our grasp."

"Yes, sir," replied the asari, bowing and walking away to a small shuttle that would transport her back to the massive flagship Saren had adopted.

"Await me at the tram station," Saren told the geth shock trooper who stood in front of him. "Prepare the bombs, but do not arm them." The geth whirred and walked away, its lesser rocket troops following in suit. Saren sighed. He'd learned to hate these goddamned synthetics, but they were the key.

He looked around once more at the carnage, impressed with what he had accomplished. And the Council, those blithering idiots, still had no idea what was going on. He'd never met a stupider bunch. But he was snapped out of his trance when he heard his name uttered by a familiar voice.

"Nihlus," Saren said, masking any surprise he really had. Nihlus Kryik was one of Saren's close friends. They were both Spectres and Saren had once mentored Nihlus to get into the Spectres. They had remained close to this day.

"What are you doing here? This was my mission, the Council didn't alert me of your presence," Nihlus said, smiling and holstering his pistol. "It's a mess here, isn't it?"

Saren smirked and raised his pistol to the back of Nihlus's head. "I've got it all under control."

**-\/-**

Ashley stared in horror as the two geth dragged the injured dock worker towards their little, purple tripod in the ground. They laid the man on top of it. He writhed in what was either pain or fear kicking out at the two geth troopers. One of them grabbed his leg and squeezed. The man opened his mouth in a soundless scream, but nothing came out.

Then he was impaled as a spike pierced his chest, lifting him into the air. Blood trickled down the spike but eventually fizzled away in a burst of steam. Ashley gasped aloud, alerting the geth. She jumped over a piece of rubble behind her, using it for cover as the geth opened fire.

She fired blindly over her makeshift cover, but the gun was shot out of her hand. She winced in pain at the lash of the shot. "Damn," she muttered. She saw movement up the hill, humanoid shapes; more of them immediately entered her head, but that made no sense. Or maybe it did. She didn't know what made sense and what didn't at this point. Bhatia, Taylor…her two best friends were dead now. What mattered?

A shotgun blast echoed through the small valley. She looked back up the hill to see two men standing with guns raised. The taller of the two charged down the hill, firing off shotgun round after round, downing one of the synthetics. Ashley's mouth hung in surprise as she just watched.

The shorter of the two ran down the hill after his partner, firing off a biotic warp that stunned the second geth. He then pulled his pistol forward and let off a few sots, destroying the geth's flashlight head.

The man with the shotgun holstered his weapon and walked back towards Ashley, taking his helmet off. He set it on the ground and extended a hand for her. "Are you alright?"

Wow, was he hot.

**-\/-**

John and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams talked for a few minutes. He made sure to calm her down and make sure she was all right before questioning her. He noticed the way she seemed to just stare at him awkwardly and took a bit longer to answer his questions.

"Commander," Kaidan said, trotting back up the hill after scouting ahead. "I saw a geth squad what appeared to be the dig site."

"Yes," Williams piped up, her eyes widening. "That was the dig site. We got attacked a few hours ago, with heavy interest there. Want me to accompany you there?"

"The extra hand would be well appreciated," John said, setting his helmet back on his head. "We need to move. Nihlus is probably waiting for us."

"Nihlus?" Williams asked, grabbing her gun that she'd dropped and trotting with her new teammates. "Who's he?"

"Our scout," Kaidan replied. "A Spectre." John glanced at Kaidan with worry. He'd noticed how hard Jenkins' death had been on him.

He vowed to help Kaidan. He was a traumatized man.

**-\/-**

Kaidan leaned next to Nihlus's body. "Dammit. He's gone, Commander. Single shot to the head."

"Watch out, behind those crates!" Williams shouted, raising her assault rifle.

Kaidan rose, getting a throw biotic ready. The good thing about his L2 implants were they allowed him to have heightened response capabilities…and heightened senses. How had he not heard what Williams had?

It was a simple dockworker, who immediately cowered back slightly and raised his open-hands, screaming and pleading, "Please, don't shoot me, don't fire, I'm unarmed!"

"What were you doing back there?" John said, lowering his rifle. Williams followed his example.

"I saw what happened, to your buddy," said the man with a slight Bostonian accent. "The – the other turian…he came up, they knew each other, they barely even talked, though, and your buddy…Saren, the other turian, he shot him dead!" yelled the dockworker frantically.

"Who are you? What are you doing back there?" asked Ashley, but Kaidan couldn't concentrate, his mind was on other things at the moment. Kaidan was worried. Their enemies must be formidable opponents; first they'd taken Richard, now Nihlus, and Nihlus a Spectre, killed by another turian. Kaidan found this all suspicious. The steamy, hot air from the bombs that had been dropped were causing him to sweat through his armor, and he could see beads forming on John and Ashley's foreheads, and he took off his helmet momentarily to wipe the sweat off of his.

That's when he heard the whistle of a rocket as it came towards him, impacting with the ground sending shards up at Kaidan's face. He fell backwards a few feet, hitting a small shipping crate that was torn open, spilling the contents into a small fire nearby. His helmet had flown off of the whole dock, near one of those small stands the husks from earlier had come up off of. He tried to get to his feet, but something held him back, like an imaginary hand holding him in place. He could only manage to squirm helplessly and groan occasionally.

"Kaidan!" yelled John as he threw his own helmet to the ground. He was only a few steps away, but he sounded a mile away. Kaidan groaned again and felt his head, where he had a headache, and felt blood seeping out of the open wound. Luckily, it was shallow, but stretched from his ear to the back of head.

Ashley came running over next once she'd eliminated the geth ambush. She went off to where his helmet was, picking it up off the ground and setting it next to Kaidan. John dragged his body out of reach of the fire and back towards where the dockworker, who leapt over the crates. "I'll be good now, I swear, here, take these grenades, you never saw me!"

"Williams, set up a com link with the Normandy and tell them to send a shuttle down immediately to pick up Powell and Kaidan," said John. "Kaidan, don't worry, we're almost back, soon, Dr. Chokwas will be able to help you, just wait."

"I'm fine," Kaidan said, regaining his heightened senses. He stood and grabbed his helmet, setting it back on his head and unsheathing his pistol. "Powell, stay here and wait for that shuttle to arrive. Let's go, Commander."

John and Ashley exchanged a small glance that Kaidan noticed. He paid it no mind. He hadn't died yet, and he'd come too far to let his silent revenge for Richard be naught.

**-\/-**

John led the way to the next bomb, disarming it like the others. Kaidan and Ashley provided covering fire as he grabbed bundles of cords and tore them away from the large metal panels. He stood up as the bomb whirred out almost silently, but he was close enough to hear it. Ashley fired her assault rifle blindly out of her cover, and Kaidan let off a throw biotic, hitting a geth shock troop that fell into the railway, obliterating it.

John stood. He could see one last bomb behind a large number of the geth, enough that it would take a little pushing from their three-man team to get by. But he would have to try. He sprinted ahead of his two teams, pumping off shotgun round after shotgun round. His armor coolants weren't providing him with much cooling, and he felt the sweat trickle down and eventually drip off his face onto his under armor. He slammed into a geth, tackling him over and punching out the light bulb it had for a head.

Ashley and Kaidan followed in suit, firing their guns at the synthetics as well. Shields went up, absorbing the bullets, but Kaidan made quick work of them with more of his biotics. Soon, John was merely disarming another bomb, pulling out the same colored and placed cords.

"Wow, what a sight," Kaidan said as he walked forward, towards the Prothean Beacon. John himself found it impressive, and gazed at it for what seemed like minutes. He felt his consciousness ebbing away for some reason, but why? Staring at the beacon made him weak…

He suddenly snapped out of it and turned around, activating his coms link. "Shore party to Normandy, shore party to Normandy, Normandy, do you read?"

"Commander, is that you?" Anderson said, the rumble of a ruckus in the background. He heard Joker shouting commands to what must have been Navigator Pressly. "Status report."

"We have two casualties; Nihlus and Jenkins are down," John replied. "We've secured the beacon and also have a witness to Nihlus's death, a dockworker named Powell. I requested a shuttle for him, is he on board?"

"He's here, but a bit rattled," replied Anderson. "How are things down there?"

John turned abruptly the second he heard Ashley scream. His face was an expression of wonder and fear as he ran forward, grabbing Ashley out of the air and throwing her at the ground. Those were his instincts. The least he could have done was check to see what had caused her to start floating in the air as if she was a ghost.

The last thing he saw was Kaidan grab Ashley before she hit the ground. His whole body was a ragdoll, being used by whatever third world entity had hold of him. He felt like he was held in an iron fist that was as delicate as an old woman. It made him stare at the Prothean Beacon, the beacon began to glow green, veins pulsing down it, a light mist stained with the same, damn green, the green filled his head until there was death inside of his head, war, blood, bodies, babies still in the crib, their skin burnt to a crisp and the water sucked out of them, fire and bombs and…

He remembered falling and hitting the ground hard, and as he blacked out he heard the footsteps of his comrades running towards him, shouting his name.

**-\/-**

He awoke in a strange, dimly lit room. Staring at the machinery above him, with little syringes and scalpels in a large, metal box, only to extract when necessary. He then knew he was in the Normandy's med-bay "Dr. Chakwas!" he heard, the voice very familiar but so alien in this location. "Dr. Chakwas, he's woken up!"

John sat up, rubbing his forehead and groaning. He looked around, and saw Dr. Chakwas, rising from her small desk that stuck out of the wall with a small laptop on it (Chakwas was one of the few who still used those ancient machines). On his right was Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, in casual wear but with the same face and same shape, only with more noticeable breasts this time…

"Commander, you had us in for a scare," said Dr. Chakwas, setting her hands on the edge of the bed. "We were worried."

"What…what happened down there?" John said, still rubbing his head in pain. All he could remember was finding the beacon, saving the Eden Prime station, finding Nihlus's body, meeting and recruiting Ashley Williams, Richard Jenkins dying, and finally, being sent out of the Normandy to carry out the mission. Going over it in his head seemed like it only took a few minutes, but it must have taken hours.

"You passed out when you saved me," Ashley said, worry and guilt written plainly on her face for all to see. "I don't know what overtook me, it's just one minute I was walking towards the beacon, the next I…I never meant for that to happen, it wasn't doing that when the egg – er, scientists unearthed it."

"There's no need for apologies, Williams," John replied with as much of a reassuring smile he could muster through his pain. As he said that, the med-bay doors opened, and Captain Anderson walked in, his hands behind his back and a stern expression on his face.

"Captain," John said with a salute, stifling his pain as best he could.

"Commander Shepard," Anderson said, returning the salute. "You're a hero. Glad to see Dr. Chakwas can still work her magic. If you'd excuse us, Williams, Doctor."

The two left, Ashley a little less willingly than the doctor, but both left. Anderson then locked the doors with his special keycard and took a seat, pulling up Dr. Chakwas' chair and placing it next to the John's bed. "John…we need to talk about what happened on Eden Prime."

**-\/-**

Kaidan hacked away at the little data pad that kept up with the weapons stores. Luckily, with Ashley on board now, he wouldn't have that task fall to him. But that was the least of his worries at that point in time.

His best friend was dead. His comrade, the man he'd come to trust with so many secrets, the man who knew about Rhana and Vyrnus, the only one. And he was gone. Killed, by a little trash drone that strapped a pistol to itself. He came back with major injuries whenever he was on a mission without Kaidan. Now he wasn't coming back at all, and Kaidan had been with him.

He almost wanted to blame Shepard, but he knew that John wasn't the cause of Richard's death. When they brought the bodies on board (Anderson was ordered by the Council to bring back Nihlus's body; the rest of Unit 212, Ashley's old squad, were being taken by an Alliance vessel), they learned his armor had been faulty; the shields had malfunctioned upon reaching the planet's atmosphere due to a passing meteor. He cursed; why couldn't that have happened to him, Kaidan, who could have taken care of himself…

He saw Anderson walk into the med-bay, his expression serious and almost angry, his hands crossed behind his back. Not two minutes later, Ashley and Dr. Chakwas walked out, Ashley following the quicker Dr. Chakwas. He'd just now taken into consideration the fact that Ashley had barely taken her eyes off of John since the moment he and Kaidan had saved her from those geth.

And she wasn't even giving him a first glance.


	4. Chapter 3: Citadel

**Hope those chapters are a bit longer. Sorry for the lack of updates, been swamped with homework, the new Minecraft update, and playing Mass Effect 2 in preparation for Mass Effect 3!**

**Wow was it awkward doing that one Ashley POV section where she first meets Shepard and Kaidan.**

The Citadel was beautiful. Joker knew that, but for some reason he felt like it was something just to one up him from his ships. And he'd flown lots of ships. The Normandy had definitely been the most glamorous he'd ever piloted, though. A prototype ship made by the Turian Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance…what a feat. And such an intriguing, original design it was.

But the Citadel was said to have been built by either the Protheans or the Keepers, the bug-like race that managed and piloted the giant space station through the darkness. A whole fleet of the three Council races (asari, salarian, and turian) orbited the station, protecting it from any idiot fool enough to attack.

John, Kaidan, and Ashley were in the cockpit now, along with Navigator Pressly, who was just walking around, acting busy, like usual. Pressly could be a nice guy, but was really just an alien-hating elitist. Joker dreaded what would happen if Pressly found out about his Vrolik's syndrome.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Ashley exclaimed, sticking her breasts in his face, much to his pleasure, just to look out the window.

"Well, size isn't everything. You need the fire power to back it up," Joker replied with a smirk.

"Is this about something else, Joker?" Ashley asked, giggling. Kaidan then approached her and began to have a conversation.

Joker pressed a few buttons and linked himself to the Citadel dock workers. "SSV Normandy to Citadel private dock number 33. Come in, Citadel Number 33."

"Normandy, we read, over," said the dock worker.

"Permission to land on Council business, requesting to see Ambassador Udina," Joker replied.

"Permission granted."

The arms of the Citadel were always open, but the fleet that had obviously taken notice to the Normandy immediately began to orbit the Citadel again. Joker flew the shuttle into the belly of the station and into the heart, a small bump out of the butt of the Citadel where the Council resided. Joker had been there once, for his graduation from the academy. He remembered Udina vaguely, as he was there. He had just become the new ambassador for Earth then, and gave the speech of how "the pilots of the Systems Alliance were the heart and muscle of the Navy yadda yadda yadda." Very boring speech, but Joker had graduated top of his class. Overall, he remembered it as a good day.

He landed in the small private dock, reserved for important shuttles and vessels. He noticed a small group of C-Sec (the security on the Citadel) near the elevator, and a keeper on a holographic terminal, plucking away at it with its pincers.

Captain Anderson, followed by John, Kaidan, and Ashley, walked off the ship. The ship's VI then said, "Logged: The commanding officer is ashore. Navigator Pressly stands as acting XO."

Joker then wished for a shore leave.

**-\/-**

"The case is closed, Vakarian," said the executor of Citadel Security, a one Pallin. "Put the files in the records and forget about it. I'll mail you a new case file this afternoon. Enough arguing, get out of my office."

Garrus Vakarian stared in dumb shock at his clueless boss. They were both turians, but Pallin treated Garrus almost as bad as he treated his human visitors. Garrus himself wasn't so blind that he hated humans as much as the next race ultimately did; in fact, the only race he truly felt hatred towards was the vorcha, with their barbaric ways. He was just glad they stayed to the Terminus Systems.

"I just need more time, I nearly have Saren framed!" Garrus erupted, his voice changing with his rage. He'd been investigating the case of the Spectre, Saren Arterius, who had allegedly attacked the human colony of Eden Prime with a large flagship and the geth, the synthetic beings the quarians created. Garrus had believed he'd been guilty from the start; he just needed evidence.

He'd gathered that evidence, too. Apparently, there was a quarian who had recently fled from a geth ambush. She was supposedly on her Pilgrimage, a quarian rite of passage, and was trying to find a way to get to the Shadow Broker, if his sources were correct. Which he was sure they would be.

But Pallin was holding him back, and there was no stopping Pallin. Stubborn as a bull, and the brains and brawn to back that up, he made sure that Garrus wouldn't, couldn't, shouldn't solve the case and bust Saren. It made him guilty thinking back to his father's email to him: "Son. You bust that Spectre. He's rotten to the core, just like the lot of them." The rest of the email had pretty much been a rant on how abusive Spectre's were with their power. His father was not fond of the Spectres.

"Get out of my office, Garrus," Pallin said with slightly more sympathy for his underling. "It's over."

Garrus stalked out of the office after staring at Executor Pallin, anger emblazoned in his eyes. The door next to him opened, the one that led to the Embassies bar, and a man walked out, crying into his palms. The automatic doors shut behind him and he leaned against it, weeping openly.

"Mr. Bhatia, what's the matter?" Garrus asked, approaching a good acquaintance of his. Samesh Bhatia was one of the nicest people Garrus had ever met, being his tour guide when he first came to the Citadel to join C-Sec. He had also met his wife, Nirali, who had recently went on a tour to Eden Prime. As Garrus recalled this, suspicions and grief entered his mind.

"Oh…Garrus…nice to see you, my friend," Samesh said, trying to get the tears out of his eyes. "Clerkman Bosker has just given me the sad news. Nirali…she is dead. Killed by the geth."

Garrus's mood immediately changed. He remembered vaguely what Nirali looked like, and silently wept in his head for her loss. "Mr. Bhatia…Samesh…no words can express my sincerest condolences."

"Don't worry, Garrus, she is in a much better place now," Samesh said. "I just wish I could have lived my life with her…" He began to weep again, and Garrus placed a hand on his shoulder, and eventually embracing him in a hug. "Who would have done that to her?" Samesh said into Garrus's chestplate.

"I know exactly who, Mr. Bhatia, and I promise you, he will come to justice." Garrus let go of the man as he set a small, weak smile on his face. "I swear it on my oath as a turian."

"That means something, Garrus," said Samesh. "I'll be truthful. It doesn't mean much, but a little."

Garrus the walked away, sending his goodbyes Samesh's way, and walked down the Embassies' steps as Ambassador Udina also passed by, bumping into Garrus. "I'm sorry, Ambassador."

Udina gave him a scowl. "It's no problem. Back to your duties, Vakarian."

That bastard was always problematic. He seemed to despise all aliens besides the elcor (as to why, Garrus couldn't guess) but he was prone to berating Garrus more than some of the other aliens.

**-\/-**

Wrex stalked down the halls of the Wards, on his way to Chora's Den, the gentleman's club.

Urdnot Wrex was a hard working krogan who just wanted his pay. But ever since his last job from the Shadow Broker, his life had become a pain. First, he'd had to arrive on the Citadel on his private shuttle that automatically had to be detained and shut down, searched without a warrant, and ultimately destroyed on the inside. Damn idiots, if you asked him. Next, C-Sec had made it their priority to tail him for hours until he found out a way to ditch them. Which, luckily, he had.

Now, the only other krogan on the space station, a bouncer at Chora's Den, had been harassing him about trying to find Fist, the owner of the den. Damn nosy, Wrex had a silencer and everything, so they wouldn't even find out about Fist until much later. Late enough so Wrex would be off the station and far away from this place.

It was the third time that afternoon that Wrex had tried to get into the back-door of Chora's Den. The same drunk by the small alcove that led into Fist's room was still there, a bald man apparently by the name of Harkin, who was on suspension from C-Sec. Thank God. If another C-Sec officer started to dog Wrex, there would be blood.

But this time, Chora's Den was prepared for Wrex. Outside of the door, two turians stood, loading their guns. They didn't acknowledge Wrex until he was already at the door. Wrex stared at them with malice in his eyes. "What?"

"What?" said the first turian to Wrex.

"I assume you want to kill me, or at least are being paid to," Wrex replied.

"Dunno what you're talking about," the same turian said, his demeanor changing slightly. "We're, ah…expecting someone else. Go in and get a lap dance from an asari or something and stop breaking our balls."

"Yeah," said the second turian. He activated his omni-tool pressed a few buttons. "There, transferred you over a few creds. First rounds on me." He winked and ushered Wrex inside.

Wrex was puzzled. They were obviously goons, maybe Fist's workers, but there was something about them that struck him as odd. He looked back, and the same two turians were standing there, exactly as they had been, speaking in hushed voice together.

The krogan bouncer at the back of the room was still there as he approached the room. Harkin glanced up from his cup and shook his head, scoffing at Wrex, but the krogan put a hand up and set his other on his pistol. "Halt. Wrex, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to speak with Fist," Wrex said, the same blunt answer he'd uttered the last few times.

"Fist is busy," the krogan replied, the same blunt answer he'd given to Wrex in the same tone. "Come back later."

Wrex shoved himself into he bouncer. "You let me in there now, you bastard, before I blow a gasket."

"Get out of this bar, Wrex," the bouncer exclaimed, shoving the other krogan off of him. Wrex growled and turned, shoulder checking a human in Systems Alliance armor. The man had two companions with him, a slightly shorter man and a woman in the most ridiculous looking pink armor Wrex had ever laid eyes on.

"Hmph. Out of my way, human," Wrex bellowed as he shoved past, disregarding any of the provocative asari dancers.

**-\/-**

Fist was a man who had power. Power and men. And as Tali stared at his fighting force (two krogans, four turians, and at least ten humans), the only thing she could say was, "Impressive."

Chora's Den was not a Citadel funded expenditure, but Fist had managed to make it happen. There were no women in the bar aside from the asari dancers and one bartender. She felt out of place from these people.

Tali'Zorahh nar Rayya was on her Pilgrimage, the quarian's rite of passage into adulthood. The Terminus Systems were a dangerous place for a quarian and her lone mech guard, but she had foolishly rushed in, headstrong she'd find something that would prove to the Admiralty Board that she was worthy of being a full grown quarian. When she'd gotten there, geth, the synthetics her people had created, attacked. They were a small band, nothing she couldn't handle. Unfortunately, her mech had been trashed in the process.

But that was the least of her worries. The geth usually destroyed their memory cores upon death, if you could call it that, but Tali had felt compelled to search them and extract the cores anyway. There had been cases where a geth's core had preserved small images or audio clips, but the percentage was slim. That slim percentage pulled through.

On one lone geth shock trooper, she'd found a fairly intact core. She had extracted it as carefully as possible and loaded it on to her terminal. As she scanned it, she found various audio files and video files, all revealing carnage and death. One audio clip, however, was more interesting to her than the rest. A turian male and a woman, possibly an asari matriarch by the way she spoke, held a conversation, various pieces cut out by the damage. But there had been evidence of treason.

Apparently, the turian was a Council Spectre, and his associate was the most powerful asari matriarch alive, named Benezia. Tali had once seen a speech Benezia gave at her coronation as a matriarch, and how beautiful she'd looked. That was two hundred years ago, a lot longer than Tali had been around. She had been so powerful, even speaking, and her uniform gave her an aura of respect.

This Spectre, though. He sounded like trouble. She'd never heard of him, and the recording gave away no inclination of his name. However, he sounded powerful, so powerful that Benezia was giving him the utmost respect, something uncommon with matriarchs.

Fist turned away from his console, snapping her back to reality. She looked up and noticed some of the guards were walking calmly out of the room, guns still holstered. Not common, since the only way out led to Chora's Den, the gentleman's club Fist owned. She thought she heard angry outbursts outside, but she couldn't be sure that wasn't one of the television consoles in the private rooms.

"So, Tali'Zorahh," said Fist, handing her a datapad. "Here you go. All set to meet the Shadow Broker. Have a lovely time."

He'd patronized ever since she'd walked into the bar, and he hadn't stopped, even as she was about to walk out. "Don't get hurt, Fist. I heard a krogan was looking for you; someone you know?"

"Yeah. Whatever, damn quarian," Fist replied. Tali gave him a bird over her shoulder as the doors slid shut.

Hopefully the Shadow Broker would be more helpful than Fist had been.

**-\/-**

A/N: Sorry for the delayed update, been busy with school work and other things (AKA playing ME2 and ME3.) Have fun reading! Tell me if I can do anything to improve the story.


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